Tutorial – Crochet Heart Pillow

Two weeks ago I posted a crochet pattern for a pretty heart in three different sizes you can find the pattern here. This week I want to show you how to use the heart pattern to make a pretty pillow. You could make it as a gift or keep it just for you.

You only need a few supplies, they are listed below, there isn’t anything too expensive and this is such a nice way to use the pretty hearts.

If you would prefer a crochet pattern that is advert free and to keep forever, take a look a my shop here.

Supplies

The picture above shows all the supplies you will need, in addition a pencil rubber is handy for getting rid of your measurement marks on the paper. I bought the frame for a few pounds in the Range in the UK, Walmart will no doubt sell similar in the US. You can use any PVA glue I really like the Hi-Tac one shown as it dries clear. It is just sticky enough when wet to hold an item but doesn’t dry to quickly, you can move whatever your gluing before it dries which really helps with this type of project.

How To

1.The first thing you will need to do is make 42 of the crochet hearts. Using a double knit (light worsted weight) cotton and a 3.5mm hook. The pattern can be found here. You can decide if you want to make all red hearts, or all cream hearts or another color(s) of your choice. I chose all red for one side and all cream hearts for the other side, so you can switch it round when you want to.

2. Take your pillow and remove the pad from inside it. If the pillow case is creased give it a press with a steam iron before you start attaching your hearts.

3. Using the tape measure and tailors chalk or pencil measure your pillow to find the center and mark it with a cross, it should no bigger than one of your hearts so it doesn’t show when you are finished.

4. Begin laying your first five hearts in a row your third heart should be over the cross mark you made earlier. You should have 2 hearts above the center mark and 2 below, place your hearts roughly 2cm apart. Remove the center heart so you can see the center of your pillow, this will help you keep everything centered and let you make a lovely heart shape.

5. Next lay your next five hearts vertically 2cm apart on the right side of your first row, roughly 2cm from the widest part of the hearts in the first row and half a heart higher than your first row. You should now have two rows in total.

6. Repeat with five more hearts laid vertically 2cm apart to the left of the first row, rougly 2cm from the widest part of the hearts in the first row and half a heart higher than your first row. The two outside rows should now be slightly higher than your starting row.

7. Next lay three hearts on either side of your three rows, half a heart lower than your last row and roughly 2cm apart vertically and horizontally from the widest part of the heart in the last row. You should now be able to see the heart shape, if your hearts don’t quite look like they are in the right place this is your opportunity to move them around until you are happy with them.

8. Being careful to only pin your hearts to the top layer of your pillow case, pin all your hearts in place. Pin one at a time and check the placement of each heart before you pin it to the pillow case. Before you start sewing them to the pillow case take a look at your masterpiece and adjust your heart shape should you need to. Don’t move them too much much the overall finish is not meant to be perfectly even. I rotated the hearts a little on the outside rows but only a little to make the heart shape a little more rounded in appearance.

9. Once you are happy with your heart shape you can start to stitch each heart into place. Just do one at a time and be careful to line them up. I just used a running stitch around the edge of the heart, in the picture below you can see it from the back.

10. Once all your hearts are sewn on you’ve finished you just need to re-insert the pillow pad. Now you have a beautiful handmade heart pillow for that special someone in your life.